Flyover and Yoimono combine forces to bring you Good Vibes

Good Vibes for 2018 Party

Yoimono — Saturday, Jan. 6 at 7 p.m.

Yoimono opened in September of 2017 with the goal of facilitating creative community. — photo courtesy of Will Lenzen Jr.

Yoimono co-working community in Cedar Rapids (320 11th Ave SE, Suite 217) is kicking off 2018 with a joyous party designed, founding partner Will Lenzen Jr. said, to allow eastern Iowa creatives to “leave the drama of the world at the door.”

“We just wanted to do something for the community and get people in the doors … [to] have a place to celebrate bringing in the new year with positive thoughts, hopeful aspirations within the creative community,”

Yoimono opened Sept. 15, 2017 with a goal to be what Lenzen called “the home of the midwest creators community.” They now operate in partnership with rising fashion, culture and politics development org Flyover.

“We saw it as an opportunity to build the design and creative community in the area in an inclusive way,” Flyover’s Simeon Talley said of the collaboration. “We hope to establish additional niche and community driven co-working spaces that emphasize inclusion in other communities.”

That’s exactly what Lenzen hopes for Yoimono.

“There are great co-working spaces around. But Yoimono is about the creative — whether you’re a musician, a designer, an artist … it’s for the creative mind,” he said. “The community drives the space … It’s important because we need it. The creative community needs some support right now in this area.”

The party, on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 7 p.m., is free. It’s 17 and up, with drinks available for those 21 and over. There will also be snacks, games, a photo booth, a retro video game console and what the organizers are calling the Good Vibes Wall.

“We’re gonna have a way to capture people’s hopes and aspirations for the year and what kind of quote-unquote ‘good vibes’ they want to bring into the world this year,” Lenzen said of the wall.

Lenzen has high hopes for Yoimono and for the year to come. He began conceiving of the space back in the winter of 2016, with his mind on the “state of creativity in Iowa” and the conviction that “people want community.”

“I was wrestling with this question of, as a creative, as a designer, how can I give back to my community in a way that’s not just, ‘Yeah, sure, I’ll design a poster for you,’ or whatever. There’s value in that, but I wanted to do something more than that,” he said.

Ultimately, Lenzen said, “I want [Yoimono] to be the face and name that brings creatives together — not just in Cedar Rapids, but in the greater Eastern Iowa area and in the Midwest area … Yoimono is Japanese for good stuff. The hope is, the goal is, that Yoimono becomes a name that is synonymous with the creative community in the Midwest.”